The quest for a better, healthier life lives on!

Another month is nearly gone and so far, life in 2010 has been a ball. I’m feeling stronger today than I have all week. A great run, a few healthy meals and I feel like a brand new man.

A few of you have already expressed an interest in having me come and speak to your group or club, and I hope to hear from a few more of you. I think it would be a win-win situation for me and your group. It’s not that I’m that cool or anything, but I think my subject matter has universal appeal. Even if you’re already in great shape, the principals I am putting together for my presentation will apply to bringing about all kinds of positive change in your life.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support! The quest for a better, healthier life lives on!

No longer a member of the 200 club! :(

Obviously I’ve lost my momentum! Any steam that I had built up at the beginning of the week has long since dissipated…gone with the wind. I’ve been trading the same 5or 6 pounds back and forth over the last two or three weeks, which would be terrific if only I was in maintenance-mode, but for someone on the supposed decline, this is terrible.
My weight this week is 305.4! As in…no longer a member of the 200 club. I guess that’s the chance a man takes when he allows himself to teeter on the edge at 299.7 and then sits on his chubby can for 5 of the last 7 days.
Like it was two weeks ago, I don’t think my excessive gain is real fat, but mostly water retained after eating an extremely salty pizza last night. Granted some of the gain is real, just not the whole 5 lbs…but still…this sucks…and I did it to myself! Again!!!
Anyone got any ideas on how I could get my mojo back? I was thinking that I need some kind of deadline, something for me to shoot for. The races are good, but now I know I can run them, they have lost their motivational luster. One of the weight loss areas I’ve wanted to explore is public speaking. I’ve noticed that those who lose weight and then make weight loss their business tend to keep it off. Along those same lines, I was thinking that if I had the opportunity, I’d love to travel around Utah giving speeches about my weight loss journey and how others can do it too. Such a thing would be very motivational to me because I’d always have a speaking event scheduled in the near future and I think that would motivate me to stay the course. Any ideas as to where I could start? I was thinking a mid-week Relief Society meeting might be a great place to try out my idea?

So why not eat this cardboard pizza?

Today was one of those not-so-great days when it comes to my weight loss. Lots of exercise but I ate like crud. I woke up and shoveled snow for a few hours, gulped down a bowl of cereal (not the healthy kind) and headed to Moroni to fix my grandparent’s plumbing problems. The job took a lot longer than expected and while stopping for plumbing parts at the hardware store we each bought a cookie and candy bar for lunch! I know it was stupid but it was like 3pm and we were starving…and I’m pretty sure the hardware store was fresh out of salads. The moral of the story is don’t let yourself get so blasted hungry that you panic and eat junk food. The other reason that junk food is bad is the effect the one poor choice can make on the rest of your choices that day…hence the frozen pizza I ate for supper. “Why not?” I asked myself. “I suck today anyways…so why not eat this cardboard pizza?”

Well, you know “why not,” and I know now…but at the time, pizza seemed like a grand idea. Now I am suffering from a dry mouth, stuffed gut, and heartburn. Serves me right for falling off the wagon! One of the things I’m learning through all of this weight loss stuff is that I can’t afford to get all down on myself after a day like today. Life happens…FOOD happens, and I just have to resolve to do better tomorrow…and I will do better tomorrow. The weather is set to be warm and sunny for a few days, perfect for running out doors and perfect for getting me back to my rigorous training schedule.

I must admit that it’s tempting to never tell you when I screw up. It’s embarrassing, and I’m not proud of my actions today, but to pretend it does not happen to me once in awhile doesn’t do you or me any favors. This is a battle, and battles are not always won but thankfully we don’t have to win them all to win the war.

Nobody leaves Sin City totally guiltless!

Wow! What a crazy past couple of days! Like the rest of you, I’ve been running all over the place lately. I spent all day Monday over in Sanpete where numerous fatty temptations jumped out and tried to kill me. The worst ones reared their ugly head’s over breakfast. As a group, we went for breakfast at a greasy spoon joint in Mayfield, UT. Upon investigating the menu I learned that there were no healthy breakfast options (surprise-surprise!) so I improvised by ordering a green salad. That’s right…a green salad for breakfast. So there I am grazing away while everyone else is pounding an appetizer of extra-large scones slathered in honey butter. Their meals came and they looked and smelled awesome, but I stayed my course, and focused on the sliced avocado in my shrubbery. Then came the next temptation. Out of the blue, the waitress slams one of those enormous scones on the table in front of me, saying that the cook accidentally made an extra and wondered if I wanted it. I made a joke about the scone and everyone laughed at my being randomly temped. Then came, the next onslaught of enticement. The same waitress shows up a few minutes later wondering if we might like to try one of the chef’s special sweet-rolls...it was on the house. This “thing” was freaking huge, I’m talking the size of a grown man’s cranium here…and with a gob of frosting the size of a mud-puddle. Well, we all laughed again at my being tempted but this time one of the ladies at my table was sensitive enough to move that roll away from me before I had a meltdown right then and there.
The next couple of days included an unexpected trip to Vegas. Pretty much a down-and-back deal but it gave me no time to make much of a blog entry. I had some great nutritional victories while on the road, but nobody leaves Sin City totally guiltless. I know that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I will confess…there was ice-cream on the way home! (Gasp!)
Today, it was a quick trip to Orem and back and now it’s almost time for bed. Hope you’re all surviving these hectic days as well and I’ll catch you tomorrow.

woops!

Sorry. guys! Unexpected trip to Vegas...no time to write. I ate smart today...funny thing about that but I'll have to tell you tomorrow.

:)

Pretty sneaky, sis!

Sundays are always slow. No exercise except a touch of snow shoveling (the ox was in the mire), oh and setting up chairs at the church. I’m still in poor enough shape that these types of activities make me sweat…and anything that makes me sweat is considered exercise. Had a healthy lunch and a small serving of “diet” ice-cream…which is pretty much the same ice-cream as the regular stuff only the diet is whipped extra fluffy so you end up with less cream per serving. That’s how they can say it is less calories and fat. Pretty sneaky, sis!

The fastest 300 pounder to cross the finish line!

As impossible as it sounds, the Ol’ Boz-Man took first place in his division today at the Wild Goose Chase 5k in Delta, UT! Of course I had to make up my own division to do it, which is really the only way I could ever take first in anything sporty. I ended up being the fastest 300 pounder to cross the finish line…very cool. Sure I was the ONLY person even CLOSE to 300 lbs, but it was still a great way to come up with an ever illusive “W”!

The truth is, I’d already won before I got there. The winning was in the preparation. The fact that I was ready to show up and run every step of the 5k is what today’s race was all about for me.

I was so glad to see some of my blog-buddies there as well! Amanda, (and her kid sister), Tina, and Ryan…you are a big part of why today was so dang cool for me. Did we not have a GREAT time? Let’s do it again soon!

My next 5k is in Tooele (mid March) and here’s the best part…the entire course is down-hill, baby! That’s where big guys like me can just let go of the breaks and let gravity do her business. Are any of you “down” for that one?

Well, thanks again to you all for being such excellent cheerleaders for me and my progress and remember that I’m cheering you on with yours!

A “decade low” milestone!

Missed it by that much? Not today! Sorry to have been sitting on such killer information for the past 12 hours but I had very short notice to finish a pretty big project, but along with getting my manuscript submitted on time, I also weighed in this morning at a “decade low” milestone! My new weight is 299.7! How crazy is that? I’m mean, I know if some farmer was looking to sell me at the stock auction, he’d still mark me down as weighing a large three-hunski, but hey, according to my scale…I’m da’ man! I’m in the 200’s again, baby!

The trick now, is to NEVER say hello to the 300’s AGAIN! Of course, if I did see them, I’d be saying something a lot more colorful that “Hello.”

The race is on for tomorrow, but man-o-man the weather is supposed to suck! Some of you have dropped out already, and I can’t say that I blame you, but don’t ever list me for a job reference if you’re fixing to get on with the U.S. Post Office, because they have a very strict “Rain, Snow, Sleet, or Hail” policy that they roll by—sorry! Just kidding, I understand some of you had a long ways to travel in the morning, and I must admit, if the roads are bad enough, I’ll just have to tough it out, because I am running that sucker, Buck-o!
No, I really am kidding. We all just do the best we can when it comes to fitness (and our few Saturdays). I’m a little worded though, because I’m not sure anyone will be there to take my photo when I cross that finish line. Oh well Not like I could sell it on Ebay or anything.

Catch you tomorrow!

Re-don the Nacho Libre costume!

I’m late! I’m late! For a very important…blog date? It doesn’t quite rhyme like it did in “Alice in Wonderland,” but I do feel like that dumb rabbit running around trying to keep a near impossible schedule. The whole world seems to be in one great big hurry.
Well, tomorrow’s the big weigh-in. Oughta be a lot better than last week, and Saturday is the bog race. I’ll try to take a few pictures and get them on my blog, but I may have to re-don the Nacho Libre costume in order for you to appreciate the impact of the “before/after” snapshot.

The answer is a resounding YES!

This Saturday’s critical question has already been answered!!! For those of you wondering (myself included) if a 300 lb man could really run a 5k and not require CPR or at least an ambulance afterwards, the answer is a resounding YES! That’s right weight-loss-watchers…today at approximately 2:30 pm (MST), I jogged every step of my 5k practice route, without dying and without walking so much as a single step. So now we know! It CAN be done! And my family can stop talking about how to divide up my estate on Saturday afternoon! j/k

I also wanted to give a “shout-out” to those of you who sent Brooke Walker at Studio 5 KSL an email about having me on the show. She sent me a very congenial reply indicating that she has forwarded my information to her producer. Brooke seems to be as genuine via email as she is on TV. I still don’t think it would hurt to send her an email if you haven’t already. So much of what those types of shows choose to highlight is based on public interest so the more of you who contact them, the better. Just Google “Studio 5 KSL”, click on the bio’s link and look for Brooke. Her email is right next to her photo.

For those of you wondering why on earth I’d ever want to go on television about my weight loss struggles, let me just say that it’s for the very same reason I blog about it in the first place. Increased exposure equals increased commitment for me, and it broadens the number of people that I might be able to inspire, and in turn…be inspired by. The truth is, I ran extra far today because I am motivated by possibly being on that TV show, and also because I could not wait to sit down and post to you all about it. In fact, most of what I’m typing to you right now was written word for word in my head as I plodded along those 3.l miles today.
Thanks for being there for me, and for cheering me on. Hopefully I can return the favor by helping you out as well.

Maybe I'll be a guest on KSL's Studio 5!

Hey, guys.
Here is a copy of the email I just sent to the mid-morning show on KSL 5.

Give it a read and let me know what you think. In short, I’d love to be on their show to tell about blogging your way to a better, healthier, life.

If you think that would be cool, send an email to Brooke Walker at KSL. If you quickly Google “Studio 5 KSL” you’ll find their website. From there, the easiest way to contact her (and it is very easy) is to just click the “bios” link on the top of the page. From there, it shows everyone’s pictures (She is the smart looking, beautiful one) and it gives her KSL email right next to her picture. I was going to post her email right on my blog but I’d hate for that to cause her a bunch of spam or something. Besides, I think you’d like the Studio 5 site. It has a ton of good info about health and fitness. Just tell Brooke that you are following www.brentboswell.blogspot .com and let her know what you think of the blog.

Thanks, guys. This could be very very cool.

PS Can’t wait for the race on Saturday! Thanks for all of your help and support.

Dear Studio 5 KSL,

The last few days you've been talking about bogs, weight loss, and running 5ks on Studio 5. I am in the middle of doing all three...combined.

On December 4, 2009, I was desperate for help losing weight so without planning it, I went to my blog, which I never used, and posted a plea for help and support. I posted my current weight (huge) and my goals. I made promises to whoever might be "out there" and it turned out that a lot were listening (reading)! Since then I have posted nearly every day and have lost almost 50 lbs. I am running my first 5k this Saturday and have three more scheduled. The whole experience has been awesome! If you think I might have something to say that could inspire your viewers, I would love to come on the show, or help in any way that I can.

You can see my blog at www.brentboswell.blogspot.com or find me on Facebook. My motivation for going public like this is two-fold.

1. It helps me feel more committed when I know others are eagerly watching my progress, so being on TV about this would really ramp up my commitment to my goals.
2. I have heard from dozens of folks who read my blog and are now making public fitness pledges of their own, and most importantly, they are keeping those pledges for the first time in a long long time.

Also, as a side note, I have issued the challenge for everyone following my blog to come run with me at each of the races. This Saturday, there will be at least 5 or 6 of my blog followers who are going to run with me, a few of which I’ve never even met! How cool is that?

Hope to hear from you soon!
Brent
PS I live in Nephi.

Who wants a goose liver?

Great run today! It’s a good thing too because I also spend a tone of time sitting at my desk today getting my novel submitted. The run was a welcomed diversion from an otherwise very sedimentary activity.

The day of the big race is barreling closer! Glad to see that more of you are on board. The national weather service is showing Delta, UT as being in the 50’s for the next few days, but there is as possible storm looming out there for the weekend. Thankfully, weather men are not very accurate for more than a day or two at a time. Therefore I say, “This storm too, shall pass!” But even if it doesn’t, if people can “Sing in the rain,” we ought to be able to run in it. Besides, inclement weather is always best when it comes to the observance (hunting) of geese, and I plan on getting my bag limit somewhere around mile 2.5! After all, they don’t call this sucker “A wild goose chase” for nothin’! Who wants a goose liver?

“jogging machine”

Sorry about missing my post on Saturday. I was in Tooele most of the day to see my nephew get his Eagle Scout Award. Very cool, but I also got home very late. I’ve not been getting much sleep these days as I’ve been working day and night on the final stages of getting my novel ready to submit. The good thing is, I’ve been a “jogging machine” these past few days. Maybe my stamina is improved as a result of all the extra calories I ate last week.

The big race is less than seven days away and I am feeling better and better about it with each passing day. So far, I’ve heard from a half-dozen of you who’ve committed to run it with me, but I am only aware of one who is registered for sure. Are the rest of you still in? I hope so! If you miss this one, there will be others, but at some point you’re going to have to commit and register so it will act as motivational tool for you. That’s the whole point of running these things. I would never have been pushing myself this hard without the commitment.

I’m not at all freaked out by this!

It’s an awesome experience to jump on the scales for your weekly weigh in and see the scales rolling past five new digits, unless the digits are rolling up and not down. Yup, my week of nutritional neglect has cost me 5 lbs, robbing me of dropping into the 200’s (for another 7 days) and ending my perfect losing streak.

The crazy thing is…I’m not at all freaked out by this. I chose to “eat up” for a few days and surprise-surprise, its showing up on the scales! The truth is, I don’t regret it. Sure, I wish I could eat like a madman and still lose weight but I can’t. But, I did have a great time at the Super Bowl and I did eat like a rock star, and I plan on doing the same thing next year. If I’d just blown a full week of a 6 week weight loss contest I’d be freaking out, but this new lifestyle of mine is going to last a long long time, and one week is mere peanuts when compared to forever.

In the meantime, my clothes still fit as loose as they did last week, I’m still comfortably cinching my belt in the same new hole and I went for a full two-mile jog today. Two miles is double my best distance for the last 10 years and I could have easily gone further today but I did not want to press my luck.

Last night I was fairly disappointed in myself and I asked for your prayers, calls, and emails, and I got them. Thank you, and I want to especially thank you for the prayers as I swear I could feel them working in my behalf. How else can you explain how content I am over what I’ve done? How else could I have suddenly eaten perfectly today and even run farther, faster, and with less fatigue than I have in a decade? Prayer works!

I am predicting huge weight loss for next Friday because this new number on the scale can’t be telling the whole truth. I didn’t eat enough extra calories to truly gain 5 lbs. Some of it has to be water retention because of the high salt content of my food choices and who knows what the rest of it is. I think it will be as the old saying goes, “easy come, easy go.” The weigh came easy and I’ll get rid of it just as easy!

Thanks again for your positive thoughts and prayers, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow.

Please help me get it back!

Another busy day has come to a close and I am pleased as well as disappointed in myself. Pleased because I resisted this afternoon when I was sorely tempted to stop at KFC for the all-you-can-eat fried chicken buffet, but disappointed because I did not make time for any serious exercise. Here I am , less than 24 hours from my weekly weigh in, and less than ten days away from my first 5k run in over a decade and I am acting like a person without goals, or a person with goals but not enough heart to accomplish them.

But the truth is, I do have goals, and I do have heart! I can’t droop is self pity, but I don’t think I can get rolling again on my own. I’m going to need your prayers, encouraging words, and over all support if I’m going to get back on track. This entry is starting to sound like my very first post when I basically begged for your help. I swallowed my stupid pride, asked for your help and you gave it to me. If you’re out there, and you can find the time, please please please do something for me. A prayer, a text or an email…call me if you can and remind me how important this is. Remember, it’s not what I know about weight loss, it’s how I feel about what I know that will keep me on track, and obviously I have lost the feeling. Please help me get it back!

Old habits really do die hard!

I’m a big boy…so I take full responsibility for my eating choices over the past few days and let me just admit right now that they’ve sucked!!! I chose to “let my hair down” over the weekend, and party with the skinny people, but now I’ve had a hard time getting my butt back in gear. I’m not sure where the breakdown occurred but I drove home Monday morning after the Super Bowl, ate a bowl of “crap” cereal for breakfast and I’ve hardly ate a healthy thing since.

Thankfully, tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a day of renewed commitment on my part. There is no way Friday’s weigh-in can turn out very well, but I hope the bad numbers will at least slap me up-side the head! Hopefully those of you reading this will slap me up-side the head as well, and please do it literally if you happen to see me in person. I deserve it!!! One of you made the comment on my Facebook page that my blog entries as of late have been getting pretty short, well, I’m glad he called me on it, because too many short blog posts in a row indicates a lack of healthy activities for me to report on.

I’m sorry for letting you down. My brief relapse is proof that old habits really do die hard, and that my bad habits are very much alive and well, and are just waiting under the surface for me to let my guard down before they pounce. I’m not saying we can never enjoy a food party once in a while, but I’d better have a very specific plan for how I’m going to get back on track right after the big meal.

A hearty workout.

Long day today. Hardly time to exercise but thank goodness we played dodge ball at scouts and that got my heart going a little. Sad to admit that running around dodging and throwing Nerf balls equals a hearty workout.

A few new races in the works.

With the Super Bowl over, it’s time to get back on track. I had a great weekend, ate too much and exercised too little, but had an all-around great time!

I bumped into two people over the weekend who mentioned they were following my blog. Very cool!

Race day is fast approaching and I already have a few new races in the works, including a 5k in Tooele that’s held in mid-march. Hopefully some of my Tooele County friends will want to huff that one along with me. Let me know and I’ll get you the details.

Oh what fun that will be!

Down another 5 lbs this week! My new weight is 302.2 lbs, which you might have noticed it's only a few pounds away from the 200’s. Even with the Super Bowl feast coming up, I ought to easily make the “twos” by next week. Oh what fun that will be!

I’ll be out of town until late Sunday night so don’t panic for me if I miss making my post. I’m not dead; I don’t think…just away from my computer.

You’ll notice that I said “almost”.

Another great day! Tomorrow is weigh in day and that should go great as well. I’m feeling so good that I almost don’t even care about the scales anymore! (You’ll notice that I said “almost.”)

Just hop back on…it’s a slow moving train.

Great run + great nutrition = excellent day!

Its only 17 days until the big race and I’ve got a lot of stamina to gain, but so far so good. In fact, I’m not sure how my preparation could be going any better. I’ve been able to run virtually pain free which is pretty good for a big ol’ boy. It is true that I’m trotting along slower than most folks normally walk, but it’s been a lot of years since my days as a distance runner and by jogging slowly I have less chance of picking up an injury. That would be a real kick in the pants!

Well, I hope your days are going well. Keep up the good work and please keep me posted on your progress. I’m worried about a few of you who said early on that you were going to do this with me and now I’m not hearing from you. DON’T MAKE ME TRACK YOU DOWN! If you’ve fallen off the wagon, you’re not that far behind. Just hop back on…it’s a slow moving train.

Give me a shout and we’ll work on it together!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Looks like another fairly routine day here at weight loss central. I ran two miles and walked two today and it was a ton easier than yesterday. From a motivational standpoint, signing up for this 5k is one of the smartest things I’ve ever done. I’m saying that now, but if I’m no longer vertical half way through the race I’ll be cussing myself big time.

I’ve been eating smart and eating my evening meal early, and my body is sure thanking me for it.

I wanted to say thank you (again) for being here for me and for all of your nice emails. I’m even still getting them from people who’ve been following my blog each day and yet I didn’t know that they were. Very cool. I am so excited about how well things are going. My success is the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of as I drift off to sleep. Who’d a thought that taking care of myself could make me feel so dang great? Hope you’re feeling that way too…and if not, give me a shout and we’ll work on it together.

Man, I would’ve felt like a heel!

The ol’ blog pays off again! Last night I went to an Eagle Scout court of honor in Levan, UT. As with all Mormon gatherings held after dark, I knew there would be refreshments served, and that would mean temptation. I steeled myself against the sweet smells that wafted from the kitchen as we entered the little white church house. Maybe it was time for a small snack after all. About then, the woman in charge of the treats (the eagle’s mother) greeted me kindly, thanked me for coming…and informed me that she’d prepared some apples and oranges for those of us who are trying to eat smarter. By heck, she’d been reading my blog! Now THAT’S what I’m talking about! A few cookies and milk at the church now and again isn’t going to kill me but the fact that people really are reading this blog is what keeps me safe from temptation. It would suck to have been standing there with a mouthful of cookies and have someone come up and say, “So, How’s the weight loss coming? I’ve been following your blog and it’s been so inspiring.” Man, I would’ve felt like a heel!

Now, having said all that about temptations at parties, I do plan on letting lose somewhat at the Super Bowl party next weekend. The great thing about having something like this planned, is each time I’m tempted during the week to eat something dumb, I can ask myself if I want to eat this lame thing now, or wait until Sunday. At least that’s my plan. How about you? What are your plans for the next big “food party” in your life?